Politics

Bayelsa 2023: Diri, Sylva locked Horn In Massive Offensive For 2nd Term

Published

1 month ago

April 29, 2023

The outcome of the recently concluded 2023 general elections, undoubtedly, shows that the All Progressives Congress, APC, has a tall mountain to surmount in the predominantly riverine Bayelsa State where the ruling people’s Democratic Party, PDP swept aside its rival parties, clinching eight of the National Assembly seats (three senate and five House of representatives) and again maintained its dominance in the State House of Assembly winning 17 seats.

The election and APC’s recent primary also exposed the seeming lack of unity and cohesion in the opposition party, which could turn out to be its undoing in the November 11 governorship election unless its leaders put aside ego and personal ambition to commence genuine reconciliation of aggrieved members. As a party in Bayelsa, the APC, no doubt, revolves around Chief Timipre Sylva, the immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum and one time governor of the state.

APC astoundingly lost a senatorial seat in the zone of its leader and candidate for the forthcoming governorship poll as well the Reps seat in his Southern Ijaw federal constituency homestead to its bitter rival, the ruling PDP. The senatorial zone is expected to influence the outcome of the November poll. The APC made an inroad in the state assembly winning five seats while the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, clinched two seats. Incidentally, the two seats won by APGA were based on protest votes over alleged imposition of candidates gunning for third term by the PDP.

For a party that against all odds brought to an end the nearly 20 years of PDP rule in 2019 governorship election until providence played a cruel joke on it following the verdict of the Supreme Court which sacked its governor-elect, few hours to his swearing in over alleged discrepancies in the names of his running mate, the 2023 general election was a blow to the APC in the state. Interestingly, the battle for the soul of the state is now shifted to the Creek Haven, the Bayelsa Government House. So, the question is who can dislodge the incumbent Senator Douye Diri, the man fondly referred to as a miracle Governor because of the circumstances surrounding his ascendance to power.

Already, the race is panning out as a straight one between Diri and Sylva, who are both looking for second term. While Diri is currently serving his first term, Sylva served between 2008 and 2012. The PDP and its candidate, Diri will be heading to the battlefield as a united and formidable front with a remarkable and intimidating scorecard of achievements. Diri who hails from Kolokuma/ Okpokuma Local Government Area, was a Senator, ex member of the House of Representatives, and former Commissioner for Youth and Sports in the state.

He was also a teacher, and former Organising Secretary of the Ijaw National Congress, a position that drew him closer to the grassroots which may have influenced his governance style and ability to relate well with all as well as providing leadership for his party which resulted in the tsunami witnessed in the just concluded general elections in the state. His supporters claim that he has the support of the people because of his developmental strides.

Today, many riverine communities which hitherto could not be reached by road are now motorable. Many believe that he remains the man to beat come November 11 given his intimidating credentials of achievements in the last three years. “We have not witnessed a situation like this in Bayelsa State where in a major election, not a single life was lost. No security threats, kudos to the incumbent government. He has also won the hearts of Bayelsans. I never believed I would ever travel by road to my ancestral homeland at Angiama in Southern Ijaw LGA in my life time because of the nearly 60 years of failed promises by successive governments at the state and national level but Diri was able to break the jinx.

“Also, our senior citizens are now getting their pension regularly as well as their gratuities on time. That’s for a fact. I get to hear different testimonies from neighbours and other citizens,” Elder Ebiye Accra stated. However, the APC candidate, Chief Sylva, the Okpoama born politician from Brass LGA could be described as the strongest among those jostling to wrestle power from the incumbent having held one of the juiciest portfolios at the federal level as a Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and as a former governor of the state.

He has the requisite war chest and connection at the federal level to actualize his ambition of returning to Creek Haven but all cannot be said to be well with his party in which some members have accused him of running the party as his private estate. They blamed the abysmal performance of the party in the state at the 2023 polls on him. The primaries that threw up the party candidates before the poll, they argued, was one-man show. Will Sylva repeat David Lyon’s 2019 feat?

Though his army of supporters believe he has the magic wand to repeat the David Lyon feat of 2019 insisting he was the unseen hand behind the APC victory at the poll having backed Lyon to emerge as candidate, findings, however, show that most of the aspirants who contested against him are unhappy with the conduct of the election and the result declared. There is also the fear that some of those who lost the party primary to Sylva may work against the party.

In order to brighten APC’s chances, watchers of political events in the state are of the opinion that the APC national leadership must reconcile the aggrieved aspirants and others who have since turned their backs against the party. Eradiri, Osuluka, Subiri, others eye seat Also in the race is Engr Udens Eradiri of the Labour Party, LP. The former President of the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, worldwide and former Commissioner for Youths and later Environment under the Seriake Dickson administration is one of the youngest candidates jostling to occupy the Creek Haven.

The Agudama-Ekpetiama-born youth activist turned politician will be banking on the youths to actualise his dream having served as a youth leader at both the central (Bayelsa) and national level of the Ijaw nation. Waibodei Subiri of the All progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, is said to be a former teacher and surveyor. He promised to focus on youth empowerment, noting that the only way to achieve a better state is to get a greater percentage of youths involved in governance. For Binalayefa Joshua Osuluku, a legal practitioner and candidate of the Social Democratic Party,SDP, promised to work for the victory of his party by unseating the PDP in the governorship election and bring about a paradigm shift in the governance of the state.
VANGUARD

Related Topics:Bayelsa Douye Dieu Timipre Sylva

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Politics

Court Admits Final Results In LP, Obi’s Petition

Published

9 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Editor

The Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, tendered in evidence on Wednesday the final results for the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

The national document known as Form EC8D(a) was tendered by Paul Annanaba, SAN, on behalf of the party and Obi as part of the evidence in support of the petition protesting the outcome of the February 25 elections at the Presidential Election Petition Court.

The LP and its candidate, Peter Obi, are challenging the conduct of the presidential election in which Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The 1st to 4th respondents in the suit are; INEC, Tinubu, the vice-president, Kassim Shettima, and the APC.

The respondents, through their legal representatives on Wednesday, all agreed to the presentation of the national results for all the states and the FCT.

Following no objection from the respondents, the five-man panel of the PEPC headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani admitted the national document as evidence in the petition by Obi.

In the same development, the petitioners tendered, as evidence in support of their petition against Tinubu’s return, form EC8Cs from 13 states: Bayelsa, Benue, Cross-river, Ebonyi, Edo, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Ekiti and Delta.

The form EC8C is used for collating election results at the local government level. The results recorded at ward levels are entered into this form. But the respondents, through their counsel, all objected to the admissibility of the form EC8Cs. They informed the court that they would explain the reasons behind their objections in their final written addresses.

However, the court admitted the forms in evidence and marked them as exhibits. Thereafter, it adjourned further hearings on the petition to Thursday, June 8, 2023.

Objection to PDP’s subpoenaed witness

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, called its first subpoenaed witness at the Presidential Election Petition Court on Wednesday.

In a petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023, Atiku and the PDP are challenging the outcome of the presidential election that produced Tinubu as president.

At the resumed hearing, counsel for the PDP, Chris Uche, SAN, informed the court that the petitioners are set to call their first subpoenaed witness, who is an ad hoc employee of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

However, counsel for the respondents in the case, INEC, Tinubu and the APC, objected to taking the testimony of the witness.

As soon as the witness entered the witness box, and barely before he could take his oath, counsel to INEC, A.B. Mahmoud, SAN, rose in objection to the hearing of the witness.

He informed the court that he was only served this morning with the statement of the witness and, as such, would have to study the statement to enable him to carry out a thorough cross-examination.

Similarly, Tinubu’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi SAN, and APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, shared the same view and opposed the move by the petitioners.

Responding, Uche argued that there was nothing strange in the statement of the witness to warrant an adjournment.

He pleaded with the court to allow at least one of the subpoenaed witnesses to make judicious use of their allotted time.

The chairman of the five-man panel of PEPC, Justice Tsammani, proposed to stand down the trial for 30 minutes to enable respondents to look at the documents and thereby cross-examine the first subpoenaed witness.

INEC counsel, however, insisted that the witness cannot be taken on Wednesday because the witness “is said to be an Ad-hoc staff of the Commission,” and as such, he would have to go and look at INEC’s records to enable him to prepare properly.

Following the respondents’ assertions, Uche urged the court to adjourn till tomorrow, June 8, for the calling of the three subpoenaed witnesses.

Earlier, the PDP and Atiku called their 11th witness, the PDP chairman, Anambra, Ndubuisi Nwobu, to testify before the court.

The witness told the court during cross-examination by counsel for APC, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, that the results were disputed at the lower levels before they arrived at the state level.

He added that they collated the results because they didn’t have any other alternatives.

When asked if he put that in his witness statement on oath, he said it was not possible to write down everything that happened in the statement.

The court will also continue the hearing in the PDP and Atiku’s petition on Thursday, June 8, 2023.

Politics

Tribunal: INEC, Others Object To PDP’s Witness

Published

9 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Editor

The Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, on Wednesday, called their first subpoenaed witness at the Presidential Election Petition Court.

In a petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023, Atiku and the PDP are challenging the outcome of the presidential election which produced Tinubu as the president.

At the resumed hearing, counsel for the PDP, Chris Uche, SAN, informed the court that the petitioners are set to call its first subpoenaed witness who is an Adhoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

However, counsel to the respondents in the case namely; INEC, Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress objected to taking the testimony of the witness.

As soon as the witness entered the witness box and barely before he could take his oath, counsel to INEC, A.B. Mahmoud, SAN, rose in objection to the hearing of the witness.

He informed the court that he was only served this morning with the statement of the witness and as such would have to study the statement to enable him to carry out a thorough cross-examination.

Similarly, Tinubu’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi, SAN, and APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, shared the same view and opposed the move by the petitioners.

Responding, Uche argued that there was nothing strange in the statement of the witness to warrant an adjournment.

He pleaded with the court to take at least one of the subpoenaed witnesses to make judicious use of their allotted time.

Chairman of the five-man panel of PEPC, Justice Haruna Tsammani, proposed to stand down the trial for 30 minutes to enable respondents to look at the documents and thereby cross-examine the first subpoenaed witness.

INEC, however, insisted that the witness cannot be taken today because the witness “is said to be an Adhoc staff of the commission” and as such he would have to go and look at INEC’s records to enable him to prepare properly.

Following the respondents’ assertions, Uche urged the court to adjourn till tomorrow, June 8, for the calling of the three subpoenaed witnesses.

Earlier, the PDP and Atiku called their 11th witness, the Anambra PDP chairman, Ndubuisi Nwobu, to testify before the court.

According to The PUNCH, the witness told the court during cross-examination by counsel for APC, Lateef Fagbemi SAN that the results were disputed at the lower levels before they arrived at the state level.

He added that they collated the results because they didn’t have any other alternative.

When asked if he put that in his witness statement on oath, he said it was not possible to write down everything that happened in the statement.

Politics

Tribunal: How Peter Obi Rigged Out Atiku In Anambra – Witness

Published

9 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Editor

A witness of Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the February 25th presidential elections, Ndubuisi Nwobu has revealed how his candidate was rigged out by Labour Party’s Presidential candidate, Peter Obi in Anambra state.

Nwobu told the presidential election tribunal, Wednesday that “magic happened to the votes of the PDP candidate at different collation centres.”

In the results announced by the Independent Electoral Commission, Peter Obi scored 584, 621 votes in Anambra; Atiku polled 9,036 votes in the state and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress scored 5, 111 votes.

During proceedings, Nwobu who is Anambra PDP chairman and also the state collation agent of the party told the court that after the counting of votes, presiding officers refused to upload the results.

He also said he visited about 30 polling units out of the 4,720 polling units in the state on election day.

He said he was forced to sign the result sheet of the election at the state collation centre because he wouldn’t have been given a copy if he didn’t.

“I signed the result sheet when it was obvious that without signing, a copy would not be made available to me,” Nwobu said.

“Results were entered at polling units. But, every effort made to get the presiding officer to upload it on IREV proved abortive.”

When asked if result sheets were signed by agents of the PDP at polling units before there were taken to the collation centre, Nwobu said “yes”.

“They were taken to the collation centre at the ward level. That is where magic started happening,” he said.

“There were problems at the polling units with presiding officers.”

He said in some instances, he had to intervene to prevent voters and other party agents from attacking INEC officials.

“Even in certain instances, I had to intervene to ensure that some of the polling officers were not attacked by voters and other political party agents,” Nwobu said.

Nwobu is Atiku’s eleventh witness to testify before the five-member panel headed by Haruna Tsammani.
PUNCH